On the left is the barrel aged Porter, aged for three months in Speyside whiskey barrels. Pours almost no head, the regular porter(right) pours a great head that lasts for a while.

The aroma was interesting, both producing quite different scents. The regular porter smelling very much like chipotle peppers with the spice and smokiness but also having an unpleasant chemical, solvent characteristics. The barrel aged on the other-hand was quite nice, very faint smell of the peppers but more fruity aromas coming through, sweet citrus and dark cherries.

The regular porter was hard to get down, very spicy with an almost unpalatable cigarette-like smoke flavour, dry and unpleasant aftertaste leading one of us to deem it “Heartburn ale”

The barrel aged was quite different, aging had mellowed out the beer considerably, a much more pleasant smokiness comes though, and not just from the chipotle. More depth to this beer with a balancing subtle malty sweetness.

Amazing to see the huge difference only three months of aging can bring to a beer! Check these out and other Mikkeller brews at Zyn in Inglewood.